Well. I'm hosed.

[Whackjob]

I have a hunch how that Alienware came to be in a condition of unwilling operation...

It sat on the same desk for four years up until it decided not to cooperate.

[Jarin]

Alienware is great... up until it dies a horrible death and is incompatible with everything. I'll refrain from ragging on the company (I hated them before it was cool, damnit! </hipster>) but I think I'll stick to building my own machines for the foreseeable future.

On that note... should you end up looking for an affordable replacement, check out this series of articles. Rather informative, and an interesting look at the theory behind component selection.

[S4qFBxkFFg]

Maybe try installing another OS before you give up on it?

(I'm assuming if it's Dell's own drivers, it's Windows you're using.)

[Nuke]

i once sunk well over $3000 into a performance rig. it was the most problematic rig i've ever built. hardware was always failing, memory timings were getting reset, it was loud, big and could heat a room. cutting edge hardware is always loaded with bugs. i find it would have been more economical to take a quarter of that and build a modest rig, every 2 years when intel upgraded their architecture and process. which is what ive been doing last couple builds. video cards get upgraded on the off years.

[Nuke]

i once sunk well over $3000 into a performance rig. it was the most problematic rig i've ever built. hardware was always failing, memory timings were getting reset, it was loud, big and could heat a room. cutting edge hardware is always loaded with bugs. i find it would have been more economical to take a quarter of that and build a modest rig, every 2 years when intel upgraded their architecture and process. which is what ive been doing last couple builds. video cards get upgraded on the off years if i need it.

[Whackjob]

Well, had more issues. For a while there, if I was out of any full screen game, I could count on a system lock within moments. Exceedingly infuriating. Yesterday morning, I noticed that I had the option to "shutdown and update". Didn't notice I had updates waiting on me, especially since when these troubles started, I ran windows update and picked everything, even the options, and installed them. So yesterday I hit shutdown and update... and it has 16 to apply? Hrm. I let them run and hit the rack.

Today, on this fabulous ISON laden turkey day? I'm in a browser, not in a game, and have been for one hour. No freeze. Not gonna try KSP just yet, but feel it out for a little bit first.

But, even if this thing suddenly runs perfectly, the trust is broken. I'm still replacing it when I can manage it.

[Jagun]

You're technically able to build your own laptop. I saw someone made a laptop inside a tiny crate, so it' something.

It's just finding a laptop case and monitor to attach to it which is the problem.

[Camacha]

i once sunk well over $3000 into a performance rig. it was the most problematic rig i've ever built. hardware was always failing, memory timings were getting reset, it was loud, big and could heat a room. cutting edge hardware is always loaded with bugs. i find it would have been more economical to take a quarter of that and build a modest rig, every 2 years when intel upgraded their architecture and process. which is what ive been doing last couple builds. video cards get upgraded on the off years if i need it.

Yes, spending too much money on high performance parts will usually get you nowhere. In two years you just end up with hardware that is too expensive to replace, but that gets overtaken by cheaper, newer stuff that is quieter and more efficient too. It is better to build (or rebuild by replacing relevant parts) a computer every 2-4 years for less money. Of course, you can use it for a longer period of time, but that is generally the optimum life span when it comes to performance and new developments. You so often see people wanting to build a computer that will last 8 or 10 years, but that simply is not feasible. You will invest a lot and gain only a little in performance. In 6 years or less, any computer will be outdated, no matter how fast and expensive it is now. Be smart, buy what you need now and buy in the future what you need in the future. Although it always helps to keep an eye on standards that will last longer, of course.

I find the sweetspot is building a computer for somewhere around or just over a 1000 euro's. At that pricepoint you have really fast, modern and qualitative hardware that is close to maximum performance for a consumer computer, without investing in really expensive or exotic components. Some components will age quickly, but when you use proper quality ones a fair amount will carry over to a next computer. That is for a blazing gaming computer. If you need something more docile for daily tasks or a specific task the budget can be cut quite a bit.

With some proper care you can make any build really quiet, but that takes some planning and a little cash. I have a fairly beefy rig, but managed to make it unhearable (to me) even at full steam.

[Nuke]

i try not to go over $800 usd. of course i reuse a lot of stuff, mainly cases, power supplies (dont skimp here, and it can last you 3 builds), fans, drives, and accessories (like heat sinks, wireless network and sound cards). a high end video card goes a long way, so simply settling with what you have can save you a load of cash and wont hurt your gaming performance much.

[Spyritdragon]

Have you managed to identify what component allows you to run your multi-thousand part crazy crafts? Ideally you'll want to get something similar or better to that part so you can continue doing your KSP as you always have.

[Nuke]

well the titan might be a good place to start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28supercomputer%29

though i have a feeling ksp would lag on it too.

seriously there is nothing you can do. possibly get the most recent high end intel cpu and overclock it. but the problem with ksp performance wise is that it is still a work in progress and hasnt been optimized very well thus far.

[RocketTurtle]

Well, yeah, flying multi-million... scratch that, multi-billion part crafts the size of Jool, you might need 9001 (IT'S OVAR 9000) Titans...

Edited December 4, 2013 by RocketTurtle

[Bobnova]

KSP isn't exactly GPU intensive, no titans needed. (edit: oh, wrong titan, I was thinking titan gpu) You can tell, if dual 280m GPUs can run it with whackjob's ships. It's just that onboard graphics on that age of laptop are really, really, really bad.

If you have space for a desktop you should be able to make a pretty decent, totally KSP worthy, thing for $600-700.

Less if you have a valid windows disk.

That song is absolutely wonderful.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Bobnova

[Deadpangod3]

well the titan might be a good place to start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28supercomputer%29

though i have a feeling ksp would lag on it too.

seriously there is nothing you can do. possibly get the most recent high end intel cpu and overclock it. but the problem with ksp performance wise is that it is still a work in progress and hasnt been optimized very well thus far.

Dam I want that computer so bad right now...

If only I had a couple billion dollars... Goodbye lag!